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Gavin Long

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Gavin Long
Gavin Long in May 1943
Born
Gavin Merrick Long

(1901-05-31)31 May 1901
Died10 October 1968(1968-10-10)(aged 67)
AwardsOfficer of the Order of the British Empire(1953)
Gold Cross of the Order of the Phoenix(1956)
Academic background
Alma materUniversity of Sydney
InfluencesCharles Bean
Academic work
InstitutionsAustralian War Memorial
Main interestsAustralian military history
Second World War
Notable worksAustralia in the War of 1939–1945

Gavin Merrick LongOBE(31 May 1901 – 10 October 1968) was an Australian journalist andmilitary historian.He was the general editor of theofficial historyseriesAustralia in the War of 1939–1945and the author of three of its 22 volumes.

Early life

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Gavin Long was born inFoster, Victoria,the eldest of six children ofGeorge Merrick Long,a clergyman. He was educated atTrinity Grammar Schoolwhere his father was headmaster, andAll Saints College, Bathurst.[1]

Long completed a Bachelor of Arts degree at theUniversity of Sydneyin 1922 and taught atThe King's School, Parramattain 1922 and 1923.[1]After working as ajackerooin 1924 Long travelled to England in 1925 so that he could marry Mary Jocelyn Britten. During his time in England he worked atAustralia Houseand was married on 5 September 1925. Two weeks after their marriage Long and his wife returned to Australia.

Journalist

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After his return to Australia, Long worked as a journalist and moved between several newspapers. In 1930 he was made a senior reporter at theMelbourneArgusbut was later reduced in rank due to the impact of theGreat Depressionon the paper. He was appointed a sub-editor atThe Sydney Morning Heraldin July 1931 and held this job until he was posted to theHerald's London office in 1938.

After the outbreak of theSecond World War,Long was a correspondent to theBritish Expeditionary Forcein France and was evacuated fromBoulognein May 1940. In November 1940, he was sent to Egypt where he reported on the6th Australian Divisionduring its campaigns in North Africa and Greece. Long was recalled to Australia in mid-1941 where he continued writing on defence matters.

Military historian

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Long (front row, second from right) with the other authors of the official history series at a meeting in 1954

In March 1943 Long was appointed general editor of theAustralia in the War of 1939–1945,a 22-volume official history of Australia's involvement in the Second World War, on the recommendation ofC. E. W. Bean,editor of theOfficial History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918.Based at theAustralian War MemorialinCanberra,he spent the remainder of the war planning the series and visiting forward areas to interview members of the Australian military.

After the war Long played a key role in the official history project. As well as providing guidance to the other authors, he wrote three of the volumes in the series (To Benghazi(published 1952),Greece, Crete and Syria(1953) andThe Final Campaigns(1963). He retired as general editor in 1963 as the project was nearing completion and he did not believe that a full-time editor was required. Long's books were well received by reviewers and his close involvement with the other authors gave the series a unity of purpose and method. Long was appointed anOBEin 1953 for his services as editor of the official history.[2]In 1956 he was awarded the Greek Gold Cross of the RoyalOrder of the Phoenix.

Long continued to write after his retirement from the official history project. He was a research fellow with theAustralian Dictionary of Biography,was part of the team which produced the Australian Government'sStyle Guideand contributed over 90 articles toThe Canberra Times.He also wrote two further military history books,MacArthur as Military Commander(published in 1969) andThe Six Years War(1973), which was a concise summary of Australia's involvement in the Second World War.The Six Years Warwas written well before it was published, but its publication was delayed while the final volumes in the official history series were completed.

Long died of lung cancer on 10 October 1968 at his home inDeakin, Australian Capital Territory,and was cremated.

Notes

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  1. ^ab"All Saints' College, Bathurst".Lachlander and Condobolin and Western Districts Recorder.New South Wales, Australia. 18 December 1947. p. 4.Retrieved22 June2023– via National Library of Australia.
  2. ^"LONG, Gavin Merrick".It's an Honour.Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.Retrieved30 September2008.

References

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